Add real-time features to your app instantly. Build live chat, collaborative editing, real-time notifications, or multiplayer games—no WebSocket servers to manage.
Your app automatically reacts to database changes in real-time. Users see updates immediately without refreshing.
Real-time in a few lines
// Connect to real-time updates
const ws = await backend.connect();
// Join a channel
ws.join('project-chat');
// Send a message to everyone in the channel
ws.send('project-chat', {
text: 'Hello team!'
});
// Receive messages
ws.onMessage((data) => {
console.log('New message:', data);
});
No server infrastructure. No WebSocket configuration. Just add real-time features and ship.
What you can build
- Live chat - Team messaging, customer support, community discussions
- Collaborative editing - Documents, whiteboards, design tools
- Real-time dashboards - Live analytics, monitoring, metrics
- Notifications - Instant alerts, activity feeds, status updates
- Multiplayer games - Turn-based games, leaderboards, live scores
- Live cursors - See where teammates are working in real-time
Two types of real-time
1. Custom channels - For chat, notifications, and custom data:
// Create a channel
ws.join('support-chat-123');
// Send and receive messages
ws.send('support-chat-123', { user: 'John', message: 'Need help' });
2. Database updates - Automatic real-time updates when data changes:
// Listen to database changes
ws.join('db_todos_created'); // New todos
ws.join('db_todos_updated'); // Todo updates
// UI updates automatically when anyone creates/updates a todo
ws.onMessage((data) => {
updateUI(data); // Refresh your todo list
});
Every database collection automatically has real-time channels. Your app can react to changes instantly.
How it works
Channels are like chat rooms. Users join channels to send and receive messages:
- Join a channel:
ws.join('channel-name') - Send to everyone in the channel:
ws.send('channel-name', data) - Receive messages:
ws.onMessage(callback)
Permissions work like your database—users can only join channels they have access to.
Real-world example: Team chat
Here’s how you’d build a project chat feature:
- User opens a project page
- App joins the project’s chat channel:
ws.join('project-' + projectId) - User sends a message:
ws.send('project-123', { text: 'Update ready' }) - All team members on that project receive it instantly
- Optionally, save message to database for history
The real-time data doesn’t have to be saved—perfect for live cursors, typing indicators, or presence (“John is online”).
No infrastructure to manage
- ✅ WebSocket servers hosted for you
- ✅ Automatic scaling as users connect
- ✅ Reconnection handling built-in
- ✅ Works with standard WebSocket API
- ✅ Compatible with Socket.io patterns
Your only concern is your plan’s concurrent connection limit. Everything else is handled.
→ View WebSocket documentation for detailed API reference and advanced features.
Next component is server-side functions.
